The Mark of Athena
by jadedroseMFS
Summary: Jason, Piper, and Leo are anticipating the summer solstice, when they will finally set sail for the Roman camp and meet the famous Percy Jackson. Meanwhile, Annabeth can hardly wait another day before seeing Percy again.
1. Jason I

**Jason I**

Jason woke up with a start.

He had been napping in the Zeus cabin when he heard a knock on his door. Before he could get up to open it, Piper rushed inside and called his name.

"Jason!" She ran over to his bed and picked up a cup of water from his nightstand. Splashing it in his face, she said his name again. "Jason!"

She was panting from what looked like a long run to get there. Although he was slightly angered by the fact that his sheets were now drenched, he forced himself to sit up and look at Piper. Despite her worried disposition, she looked as beautiful as ever.

"What? What happened?" he asked sleepily.

"It's Leo. You know those dreams he's been having? Well, they've gotten worse. Much worse. Nyssa had gone in to talk to him about the ship, and she found him lying in his bed hyperventilating. I know he hasn't had amnesia, like you, but when I saw him, he had that same faraway look in his eyes, like he was remembering something – something from his past."

"His past? Like, his mom? Or Hera, maybe?"

"I don't know, maybe. But he won't talk about it. I even tried charmspeaking him to tell me what he saw."

"And?" Jason had been so preoccupied with his own flashbacks lately that it hadn't even occurred to him that his friends might be having trouble, too.

"Nothing. He just keeps muttering words under his breath like 'horses' and 'picnic'. But maybe you should come see for yourself."

Jason got out of bed and hurriedly put on his orange Camp Half-blood t-shirt and jeans. He was a little embarrassed to have Piper see him in only his boxers, but thankfully she was facing the opposite direction, her focus on the pictures taped to the wall in the corner of the cabin.

"Heard anything from Thalia?" she asked.

"If I had, don't you think I'd have told you?"

"I don't know, it might've been secret or something."

"I don't keep secrets from you."

Piper smiled and seemed pleased by this comment. She might have blushed, but it was too dark in the room to tell. Jason finished putting on his clothes and started for the door. They barely had time to run the full way to the Hephaestus cabin before Nyssa ran straight into them.

"Nyssa!" Piper was anticipating some news. "Did he say something?"

"Hardly. But he keeps muttering those same words, 'horses' and 'picnic'. Only this time he said something different, too. He looked straight at me, with a really sad expression, and whispered the word 'hazel'."


	2. Jason II

**Jason II**

When Jason stepped into the Hephaestus cabin, he had to stop himself from aweing at the contraptions that lay on the tables and on the floor, all of the weapons that hung on the walls.

_For king of the gods, my dad sure isn't as cool as these guys._ Jason thought to himself. He still wasn't used to the cold, boring, stone build of his own cabin– the cabin of Zeus, his father.

But he forced himself to concentrate on the person lying in bed on the opposite side of the room. Leo was acting just as Piper had described. Looking down, breathing heavily, and blinking several times more than normal, he seemed as if he were not even with them.

Jason tried talking to him first. "Hey, man. How you feeling?" Leo didn't move a muscle.

"Um, metal. Gears. Festus, ship, pancakes?" Jason tried saying words that would catch Leo's attention.

When Leo still refused to respond, Jason reached out and held his wrist. Immediately, his body responded by sending a spark of electricity through Jason and making the hairs on Leo's arm stand straight up. When Jason let go, Leo relaxed a little and seemed to acknowledge them for the first time.

"Uh, hey guys. Can't a man take a nap in peace?" Leo was definitely back to normal again.

Piper laughed, but still seemed a bit cautious. "Yeah, sorry. We were just, um, coming to wake you up. Nyssa had something to tell you about the ship."

Nyssa took the hint and jumped in. "Uh, yeah. I was going to tell you that the torsion springs for the ballista weren't the right size. It might take another whole day to remake them."

Leo leaned his head back in distress. "We can't afford any more time lost! We're already behind schedule, the summer solstice in two weeks…"

Jason grabbed Piper by the hand and led her out of the cabin as Leo and Nyssa talked more about the arrangements for the _Argo II_.

Once they were out of earshot, she let go of his hand and turned to face him.

"What was that?" she asked. "He didn't even realize what he had been doing or even remember his dream!"

"I know, I know, but we can't afford to bring it back up again. If he hears us talking about it, it may trigger another memory and he could be gone again, just like that."

"What about the quest, then? What if he's in the middle of battle and his mind just–" she stopped abruptly. Jason turned around to see what she was looking at. Annabeth was standing behind them, but started to walk away once she was noticed.

"Annabeth." Piper went over to where Annabeth was now standing and realized she had been crying. "Annabeth, what's wrong?"

Annabeth cleared her throat and spoke softly. "I was just…I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to take a walk before dinner. Sorry I interrupted you guys."

Annabeth turned and started to walk with a faster pace. Jason could tell something was definitely wrong, but he decided not to bother her about it. He and Piper watched as she turned the corner and disappeared behind one of the other cabins.

"I hope she's alright. I know this whole Percy thing must be horrible for her." Again Jason wondered how his own friends back at the Roman camp were dealing with his disappearance. He hoped he was being missed, but they were Romans. Over time, they would learn that they had to go on without him. After all, they had Reyna to lead them, not just him. "She's probably just thinking about, you know, the quest and stuff…" he stopped because Piper now wore a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah, about that…" Her voice trailed off.

"What? Did something happen?"

Piper seemed as if she might start crying herself. "Jason, this quest… what if we fail? What if we die? Civilization is at stake here, if we don't– if we can't…"

Without hesitation, Jason reached out and put his arms around her. She leaned her head against his chest, and he heard her sniffle.

"We're going to have to do the best we can. We'll have the Romans. I know it may be hard to get the two camps to work together, but if we can, then we might stand a chance. And as for Leo… like I said, we just can't talk about it, and we should probably steer clear of horses, and picnics."

After standing there a minute, he started to feel awkward and let go of her. The call for dinner sounded in the distance and campers and satyrs began to stop what they were doing and go toward the mess hall pavilion.

"You hungry?" Jason asked her, with a little edge in his voice that might cheer her up for the time being.

"You bet." She replied with a smile, and the two walked together to the pavilion until they were forced to separate to their cabin's table.


	3. Piper III

**Piper III**

Piper had decided she would sit with Annabeth at the campfire that night because of the way she had acted earlier, but as she looked around the many faces glowing from the light of the fire, she couldn't find the one that belonged to the curly-haired daughter of Athena. Piper was still looking for her when Jason slid in the seat next to her. He nodded at her and she smiled back, glad he had come to sit with her.

The Apollo cabin was leading the sing-along tonight, as always, but Piper wasn't really in the mood. After the first song, Chiron stepped up and quieted them all.

"Good evening, heroes! You all know that today is June seventh, two weeks before the summer solstice, when the gods will have their semi-annual meeting on Olympus."

The campers muttered an assent.

"But more importantly, the summer solstice is the day when the _Argo II_ will set sail for the Roman camp of heroes." Chiron continued his speech while the campers listened intently. "The progress of the ship is… still being worked on."

"Probably not even close!" One of the campers said, loud enough for everyone to hear, while a few of the other campers just scoffed.

Leo stood up to protest. "We're working on it! Just because we're a little behind schedule, doesn't mean…" When he couldn't finish his statement, many more scoffs came from the crowd.

Chiron spoke up. "Leo is right. We cannot afford to think negatively. The Hephaestus cabin is working as fast as they possibly can. But now, on to other matters. The next capture the flag will be tomorrow night, a Friday. The Ares cabin currently holds the laurels."

A lot of cheering came from where the children of Ares were sitting.

Chiron rolled his eyes. "Right. Anyways…"

Piper looked around one more time, but Annabeth was still nowhere to be seen. She leaned in close to Jason and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to the Athena cabin to look for Annabeth. Just to make sure everything's alright."

"You want me to come with?" was his reply.

"No, I promise I'll be back before it's over."

Jason nodded and Piper stood up and quietly made her way out of the crowd of campers. She sure hoped nothing had happened to Annabeth. Annabeth almost never missed a campfire, because it was the time when all announcements were made and she wanted to make sure she was in the loop.

When she reached the Athena cabin, Piper found the door locked. She pulled out her dagger and picked it with no problem. She had expected to find Annabeth in her bed, possibly still not feeling well from earlier. But as she walked through the doorway, she found the cabin vacant. The lights were out; all the beds were empty, and no noise could be heard. Piper panicked. _Where was Annabeth?_

She ran out of the cabin, slamming the door behind her. The first place she thought of was the bunker in the woods. Annabeth went there often times to study the architecture to help with her design for the new Mount Olympus. Although, Piper knew she shouldn't have been able to enter the bunker without Leo, but maybe he had gone before the campfire to open it for her.

The bunker was deep in the woods, and it took her a several minutes of sprinting to get there. The large stone doors were closed. Annabeth wasn't here either.

She tore back through the woods the way she had come but stopped at Zeus's Fist. It was tall enough to have a pretty good view of the camp, so she climbed it to see if she could see Annabeth somewhere. But she couldn't.

Piper decided to give up. Maybe Annabeth was hiding for a reason. If she didn't show up by morning, then Piper would worry.

As Piper stepped out of the woods, she noticed how beautiful the sunset was that night. She decided to walk down to the beach and enjoy it before it went away.

As she was walking along the shore, she heard footsteps behind her and turned around immediately, unsheathing her dagger as she did so.

Annabeth's hands shot up and she held them on either side of her face. "Whoa! Calm down. I surrender."

Piper put her dagger back in its place and smiled. "Sorry! I thought you were a monster or something. I didn't see anyone on the beach when I came down here. Why weren't you at the campfire? I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Annabeth sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. But, this afternoon, I had a dream... about Percy. We were running along this beach, and he looked at me and asked, 'Are you real?' I told him to stay where he was and that Tyson would find him soon. I was really happy at first, because, you know, we haven't been able to reach him in months, but then they just hit me all over again, the emotions, like re-opening a wound. I came down to the beach, because that's what Percy and I used to do on most nights. I miss him more than he will ever know."

Piper tried to imagine Percy and Annabeth on a normal night at camp, taking a walk on the beach, holding hands and smiling as they made jokes about whatever had happened that day. The picture made her smile. "You'll see him again soon, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I hope so. I just can't imagine what it will be like, though. I mean, _eight months_ with amnesia; he may not even remember me. Or worse… maybe he got a new girlfriend…"

"Annabeth! Don't even say that! From the way you talk about him, you guys must have had something so special that there is no way Hera could have taken that memory from him."

At the mention of the queen of the gods, Annabeth scowled. "Come on, it's getting late. We should probably get back."

At that, they walked together back to the cabin area, where Piper found Jason running around in a frenzy.


	4. Piper IV

**Piper IV**

Jason was running around the cabin area, going up to every person he saw and asking them questions. When he spotted Piper, his face became full of relief and her ran up and threw his arms around her.

Piper was taken by surprise. She stepped out of the hug and looked him in the eye. "Jason, are you alright?"

"You told me you would be back before the campfire was over! It ended _two hours_ ago. Worried me half to death!"

Piper hadn't noticed how late it had gotten. "Oh, Jason, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize the time."

Annabeth stepped away and told them, "Um, I'll see you guys in the morning. 'Night."

They said goodbye to her and then Piper looked back at Jason. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow as well. Sorry for being away for so long."

Jason bent down and kissed her cheek. At the touch, Piper could hardly keep herself from smiling.

"See you tomorrow." Jason turned and walked back to his cabin, while Piper just stood there a moment. After a few seconds she snapped herself back to reality and walked back to her own cabin, ready for some sleep.

Of course, sleep is what she would have _liked_ to have gotten, but it didn't come as peacefully as she had hoped.

She dreamed she was back with Jason where he kissed her that night. Annabeth had just left them and Jason was leaning towards her cheek. But instead of kissing her, like Piper was anticipating, he whispered in her ear with a voice that was definitely _not_ his. "_Enjoy it now, little hero, but it will not last. Your friends will be crushed and you will bow down to me._"

Piper recognized the voice as Gaea's. "I would rather die than bow down to you!"

"_Ah, but you see, dying is quite the same. Either way, you will be my pawn._"

The dreamed dissolved as Piper continued to scream at Gaea. Words could not describe how much she hated the earth goddess, how much she wanted her to suffer for the horrible things she had done in Piper's life as well as her friends.

Piper woke up with a short yelp and awoke Rosie, the nine year-old daughter of Aphrodite that slept in the bed next to hers.

"Are you alright?" Rosie asked.

Piper gulped. "Yeah, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep." Rosie immediately fell back on her pillow and started snoring.

Piper cursed under her breath. She had been working on her charmspeak just in case she might need to use it when they met the Romans, but it had become so strong now that it could affect people without her even trying. She lay back down and tried to sleep again. Instead she found herself thinking about everything that had happened since she arrived at Camp Half-Blood. The memories came flooding back to her until finally fell asleep once more, this time without any dreams.

**A/N: Alright, so do you like the plot so far? For the next two chapters, I am going to skip two weeks of camp to the part where the _Argo II_ is about to leave. This will be portrayed in Leo's POV. ***PLEASE REVIEW!*****


	5. Leo V

**Leo V**

Leo woke up extra early that morning. It wasn't really his style; he usually was still in his nightclothes when he went to breakfast most days. But he knew today was important; it was June twenty-first. If he didn't finish the ship by noon today, their whole mission would be thrown off schedule and they wouldn't be able to make it on time.

After taking a shower, he woke up the rest of the Hephaestus cabin. Nobody asked why he was getting them up at this ungodly hour of the morning, it was on all of their minds. They hustled getting ready and were out the door by six o'clock, taking off for Bunker 9 where they would complete the final touches on the _Argo II_.

Leo and his team of Hephaestus campers (his half-brothers and sisters) worked all morning. They skipped breakfast, although Leo secretly sneaked a few breath mints from his magic tool belt to snack on.

As he was working, a thousand things were running through Leo's mind at once. He had done everything he could to make sure that the ship would not fail while in flight. The flight part was tricky, too. He had carefully followed all of the steps on the blueprint, yet he was still worried he would not be able to steer it correctly.

He wasn't a sailor. At least, if the ship was in the ocean, he could navigate it using the waves. But being in the air was so much different. He had no idea how to navigate the wind! But he hoped Jason could help him on that part, with him being able to fly, and all.

Piper and Jason came into the bunker just as the campers had finished all of the details of the ship. Leo gave them a quick tour. The sleeping quarters were downstairs. There were four sets of bunk beds attached to the walls of the ship, each with a comfortable mattress and a pull-around curtain for privacy. The kitchen and bathroom were also downstairs, each with shiny clean appliances and stocked with every kind of supply they might need. The most impressive part, though, was the deck. The mounted crossbows, rotating ballista, and every other Greek-style weapon known to man, along with many Roman weapons as well – lances like Jason's, and a _gladius_, too. The only thing left to be put on was the masthead.

Festus – or just his head, really – sat on the central table of the bunker. It was about ten o'clock in the morning. They had to use the lifts in the bunker to carry Festus to the front of the ship. They had to go very slow; one wrong move and Festus could be hit against something or worse, he could be dropped.

"Steady, Steady! Watch it..." Leo was watching from below, directing Nyssa and Jake who were controlling the lift.

Once Festus was in the right place, a few of the campers cheered.

Leo did not cheer. There were so many things that could go wrong. "That's it… Steady. Okay, Harley, Shane, Nick, and Christopher – you guys come over here and start attaching him to the prow. We can't have too many people at once."

One of the campers yelled down at him.

"What? Yeah, just do the top. Then we'll get some others to do the bottom."

Leo went over to where Jason and Piper were standing, admiring his work. "So, what do you guys think?"

"What do I think? It's amazing, Leo!" Piper gawked.

"Yeah, man, this is really cool." Jason said. "Whether we win this war or not, at least we'll look pretty hot, right?" They all laughed.

After about an hour, Festus was secured on the front of the ship and the _Argo II_ was ready to go. Piper had left to find Annabeth and Chiron, but Jason, Leo, and his cabin mates climbed aboard and braced themselves for what was to come. If all went well, the ship would be lifted off the ground a few feet at first and they would sail it out of the bunker and eventually to the field in front of the Big House. But if all went bad, the ship could break down before they even got it anywhere.

Leo prayed to his dad before starting. _Hey, Dad. If there's anything you can do to help us with this ship, please, do it. _If this didn't work, Leo would look like a total fool.

The ship started to move. It creaked and moaned and creaked some more before Leo realized it was moving forward. "Yeah, baby! That's it! Just a little more…" Leo was cheering ecstatically, as well as the rest of the people on the ship.

And they were out of the bunker. Leo's shouts of joy soon turned to fear, though. The _Argo II_ was slowly increasing speed, but they were heading straight for a clump of trees. Leo cursed under his breath. He was so stupid; he should have made a clearing outside of the bunker for the ship to gain speed and increase height, like an airplane. He braced himself as the ship started its path through the woods, and straight for a large oak right in front of them.


	6. Leo VI

**Leo VI**

Leo was messing with the controls, pressing any button he thought might give them a little help. A large blade popped out of the front of the ship, chopping down the tree. But that only increased their problem; they were still surrounded by many other trees and they now had a hoard of angry nymphs yelling at them from below.

Unable to stop the chaos, Leo looked at Jason and said, "A little help here, bro?" Jason closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Leo hoped he could do it on short notice because they didn't have much time.

Once Jason opened his eyes again, the ship started to rise higher into the air, avoiding (mostly) the trees, and getting out of the woods with only minor damages done to the frame of the ship.

They sailed over the tops of the trees and over campers who stopped to watch as they sailed by. They passed the volleyball courts, where one kid who stopped to stare got bonked in the head with the ball. Many of the campers cheered and whooped as the ship sailed overhead.

The _Argo II_ sailed across the entire camp until it came to a stop in front of the Big House, at the base of half-blood hill.

Leo jumped out of the ship first, followed by his construction team. Many campers had come running when they saw the ship and had now gathered around to see the ship up close.

Chiron galloped over as well and examined their work. "You plan on flying this all the way to San Francisco, and then to Greece?"

"Uh, yeah, that's the plan so far. Unless the Romans have something they need to tell us."

Chiron looked wary, but Leo figured that if there was anything that the ship needed, now was too late. "Very well. Gather your things. There is not much time. You will need to arrive at the camp by this evening."

Piper ran up to them, accompanied by Annabeth. They each had two bags in their hands (they had also gotten bags together for Jason and Leo, who had forgotten) with clothes, toiletries, and pouch with golden drachmas, U.S. dollars, and also Euro, which was the currency they would need when they arrived in Greece. Chiron had scrounged up all the money he could find for them, telling them that they could pay him back in chores when they returned.

_If we return_, Leo had thought. It was likely they would never see Camp Half-Blood ever again. But he tried his best to think positive.

While Jason ran over to help Piper with the bags, and Annabeth said a personal goodbye to Chiron, Leo remained standing there because he didn't know what to do. He had no one to really say goodbye to. He didn't have a teacher who was like a parent to him (he had spent most of his time at camp working on the ship, and very little time training). He had no distressed girlfriend who was wishing he didn't have to go away. But he did have Nyssa, who he had become pretty close to over the past few months. He had lived his whole life as an only child, but had come to camp to discover he actually had many siblings. Nyssa had been a good sister to him, and so he decided to give his last goodbye to her.

He went over to her and gave her an awkward goodbye hug. "Bye Nys."

Nyssa hugged him back but did not say goodbye. Instead she looked him right in the eye and said, "Leo, listen to me. I don't know much about the giants, so I can't really help you in that area, but I know that you're not even going to have a chance to fight them if you don't keep your head up. _You_ are the captain of this ship. We worked our butts off to make it, so you better not get it destroyed."

Leo had to smile. "Sure thing, sis." Nothing like a good old pep talk from his sister to make him feel good.

Leo turned and climbed back aboard the _Argo II_, with Jason, Piper, and Annabeth following behind him.

Chiron said a last good-luck to them all and wished them happy travels. Looking at Annabeth he said, "When you get to the Roman camp, I want you to Iris-message me. Do you understand?" Annabeth nodded, and it made Leo wonder what they had been talking about a moment earlier.

They all waved goodbye as the ship began to rise into the air again, sailing west for San Francisco and the Roman camp. Their first troubles began as soon as the camp was lost behind them.


End file.
